


Saturday Nights

by ThetaSigma



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Canon-typical dead body, Canon-typical sexual assault, Humor, M/M, Sonny is a cop through and through, Sonny is a little too good at his job, canon-typical abuse, they cannot manage to go on a date though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 06:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/ThetaSigma
Summary: All Rafael wants is one date with his boyfriend. Something always comes up.“You brought your gun?” Rafael said disbelievingly.“Of course I brought my gun,” Sonny answered, standing up. “I’m a cop. I don’t go anywhere without my gun.”“You bring your gun when you go on a grocery store run, then?”“Duh.”Sonny wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation, Rafael could tell, his eyes scanning the room. Other patrons were looking around, too, wondering what was going on. More noises from the kitchen, and Sonny made his decision, heading back towards it, drawing his gun as he went. Gasps from the other patrons, someone crying out, “Gun!”Sonny immediately smiled disarmingly. “No, it’s okay! NYPD!” He flashed his badge, which, Rafael noted with dismay, healsohad with him. “I’m just going to go check it out, okay? Everyone stay calm.” He slid his badge back on his hip and took his phone out with his free hand.One date, that’s all he wanted, one quiet date with his boyfriend.





	Saturday Nights

**Author's Note:**

> So this was _supposed_ to be a quick funny fic about how Rafael and Sonny can't seem to have a date. 13,000 words later, I believe it's funny, but certainly not "quick". Anyway, I hope you enjoy, because I certainly had fun writing it!

Their first official date was on a Saturday night. Sonny had basically threatened to walk out of the squadroom to get it off, and Liv had finally relented and let him go.

It was not their first _actual_ date – there had been months of drinking and dining together, ostensibly for work, and weeks of sleeping together – but it was the first one where they were actually calling it a date. They were at a bar – not a cop bar, or any of their usual haunts, because they didn’t want to be bothered by coworkers, just a regular bar somewhere near Rafael’s apartment, drinking. They were at a booth for more privacy, enjoying each other’s company properly. 

It was fun. It was nice to start to get to know Sonny properly, without work in the way, without the _expectation_ of work in the way, and without sex in the way. (Not that Rafael was planning on missing sex completely tonight).

Rafael was in the middle of a long, involved, and downright funny story about court when he realized Sonny’s attention was only half on him. He sighed and stopped. 

“Sonny, the story is funnier if you actually listen to it,” he snapped.

“Yeah, I’m listening,” Sonny said distractedly. “You told… hang on.”

“That’s my problem.”

“No, wait.” Sonny fixed his attention on the bar. 

“Someone younger and hotter than me?” Rafael asked with limited patience. He knew Sonny looked at him like he hung the stars and the moon, but he wondered just when the honeymoon phase would be over and his boyfriend (what a _rush_ it was to call this man his boyfriend!) would find someone else, someone younger, less temperamental.

“Please, like anyone could measure up to you,” Sonny said, turning to him to smile reassuringly, giving Rafael the full force of his dimples.

Rafael resolutely did not melt under them.

“Then _what_?”

“I… nothing. Keep going.”

Sonny turned to him and listened properly, so Rafael finished up his story, earning laughs in all the right places, and he figured that Sonny had seen someone he had known.

Except not five minutes later, Sonny’s attention was wandering again, back to the bar, a worry line creasing his brow.

“Sonny, for God’s sake, would you tell me what is so fascinating about the bar?”

“Nothing,” Sonny lied.

For someone who was as good at undercover work as Sonny, he was a _horrible_ liar. 

“It’s not nothing. That’s the fourth time now that you’ve stared at the bar. If I’m boring you, we can leave.”

Sonny looked at him, stricken. “And ruin our first date?”

“You’re ruining our first date,” Rafael grumbled.

“I’m sorry,” Sonny mumbled. “It’s just… Hang on.”

He stood up and strode over to the bar as someone else slid onto a barstool. Rafael rubbed his forehead for a moment, then followed, determined to find out just what had his boyfriend so distracted all evening. Was it the young men who kept wandering in? Rafael tamped down on his jealousy. He knew Sonny would never cheat, that it would never even _occur_ to Sonny to cheat, but it was hard to imagine what else it could be when Sonny’s head swiveled to each newcomer.

“ID,” Sonny demanded of the newcomer.

“What?” the young man asked.

“I asked for your ID,” Sonny said firmly. 

“Look, granddad, I got served, it’s not your fucking business, alright?” 

“You wanna bet?” Sonny snapped. He moved his suit jacket so his badge showed. “ID, now.”

“Is there a problem here, officer?” the bartender asked as the kid started reluctantly digging out his ID.

“You honestly think I haven’t noticed you serving minors alcohol all night? This is the fourth one in a row too young to drink, and I know you haven’t checked an ID since I got here.”

“Officer, they’re all over 21. I know them all.” 

“Oh yeah? Then how come his ID shows he’s not even past his 18th birthday yet?” Sonny asked, waving the kid’s ID under the bartender’s nose. “You’re under arrest, and I’m locking this place down.” He turned and noticed that he had absolutely no backup, then noticed Rafael. “Raf, you wanna make sure no one leaves?”

“Under what authority? Unless you’ve forgotten, you’re the cop in this relationship.”

“Fine, you want to at least call it in?”

Rafael sighed and dug his cellphone out.

So much for their first date.

*** 

Their second date was exactly a week later. Rafael had told Liv about the disaster that their first (proper) one had ended up being, and after laughing, she had promised to let Carisi go so that they could have a second one.

(“It’s not funny, Liv,” Rafael had protested. “Do you know how long we were stuck there? Three hours. Three hours while Sonny first waited with the guy he arrested for serving drinks to minors – which, _yes_ , is a crime, but is a crime he really could’ve ignored on our first date – and then while he helped with the paperwork, since he was technically the first cop on the scene. By the time he got out of the local precinct, it was too late to do anything but go back to my place.”

“Where I’m sure you had plenty of fun, so don’t even pretend it didn’t have at least a good conclusion,” Liv had teased.

“Well, yes, but it’s not like we weren’t trying to do this dating thing properly.”

“Fine, I’ll let him go Saturday so you can try again. But you should at least be proud your boyfriend is such an upstanding cop.”

“I’d be a lot prouder if it hadn’t ruined our date,” Rafael had grumbled.)

They were in a restaurant this time. A restaurant without an open bar, because Rafael learned from his mistakes. He was not going to let Sonny be distracted by minors being served alcohol.

Sonny was focused on him this time, and they actually had a conversation that didn’t include Sonny being distracted every minute. It was going well, they were chatting about inconsequential things, learning about each other, each other’s pasts, opening up.

Suddenly, there was a lot of noise, marring the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant, overwhelming the quiet classical music that had been playing in the background. Sonny was on high alert immediately.

Pots and pans clanging, they could both identify that much.

Sonny half-stood, and Rafael laid his hand on Sonny’s forearm. “I’m sure it’s nothing, they probably just dropped some stuff,” he said reassuringly.

They heard more movement, like bodies, and more pots and pans.

“That doesn’t sound like nothing,” Sonny said tensely, his hand going to his gun.

“You brought your gun?” Rafael said disbelievingly.

“Of course I brought my gun,” Sonny answered, standing up. “I’m a cop. I don’t go anywhere without my gun.”

“You bring your gun when you go on a grocery store run, then?”

“Duh.”

Sonny wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation, Rafael could tell, his eyes scanning the room. Other patrons were looking around, too, wondering what was going on. More noises from the kitchen, and Sonny made his decision, heading back towards it, drawing his gun as he went. Gasps from the other patrons, someone crying out, “Gun!”

Sonny immediately smiled disarmingly. “No, it’s okay! NYPD!” He flashed his badge, which, Rafael noted with dismay, he _also_ had with him. “I’m just going to go check it out, okay? Everyone stay calm.” He slid his badge back on his hip and took his phone out with his free hand.

One date, that’s all he wanted, one quiet date with his boyfriend.

Sonny knocked on the kitchen door. “NYPD!” he called. “Everyone okay in there?”

No answer. Sonny swung the kitchen door open to find three people fighting on the floor. “Okay, okay, break it up!” he ordered, holstering his gun and putting his phone away. “Right now, break it up!” He stuck his head out of the door and called to Rafael: “Raf, you mind calling this one in for me, I’m a bit busy!” He dove into the fray, trying to break up the fight single-handedly.

Rafael sighed and pulled his cell phone out. 

So much for their second date.

*** 

Next Saturday, they tried again. Bars were out, Rafael had decided. Too risky, Sonny had a keen eye for minors by now, too long working at SVU and guessing ages.

They’d try a restaurant again, surely there wouldn’t be _another_ fight. 

(Sonny had ended up with a black eye from an errant swing as he had gone into the fray, one that had taken nearly the whole week to go away. He had managed to subdue the fight pretty much on his own – Rafael had thanked their lucky stars none of the fighters had realized they were in a restaurant kitchen and that there were knives available. The fight had broken out over which of them had forgotten to add something to a sauce, leading to a lot of grievances aired, and a punch had been thrown, and before anyone had known it, three of them were on the floor, punching for all their worth.

By the time patrol had arrived, Sonny had one guy in the corner, nursing a broken nose (courtesy of Sonny), and two of them swinging punches around him while Sonny had tried his best to keep them apart, but the fight had been more or less over by then. Patrol had arrested the three men and the rest of the date was spent in the hospital while Sonny was checked out to make sure nothing was broken. 

Sonny had been cheeky about the whole thing, saying it was the least of his injuries sustained on the job, thank you, and that he was perfectly fine, while Rafael had been furious, that they could’ve waited the two minutes for patrol to arrive. Neither of them had pushed the issue, because Rafael had understood that Sonny wasn’t one to wait around when he had his duty to do, and Sonny had understood why his boyfriend had gotten so upset).

So, a restaurant again. A _different_ one. 

And it was going well. Rafael knew that’s what he had thought last time, but it really was. They were relaxed, the conversation was going well, and they had made it to dessert without any interruptions or fights or anything that made Sonny reach for his badge or his gun (Rafael assumed that he had both). Neither of their _phones_ had even rang – Rafael had, for once, silenced his damn phone, figuring anyone who wanted him could wait two fucking hours to get in touch with him. Sonny hadn’t done so, but Liv had mercifully left them alone.

Sonny was in the middle of a story about chasing down a perp, complete with ridiculous arm gestures, when he felt a tugging on his pants. He had removed his suit jacket long ago and draped it over the chair and rolled up his sleeves, gotten comfortable. Sonny ignored it for a moment, when the tugging got more insistent.

“Police,” a little voice said next to him.

Rafael groaned. “Sonny, for the love of God, what’s going on?”

Sonny looked. A little boy – four at the most – was standing next to him, tugging on Sonny’s pants again. The boy pointed at Sonny’s badge, clearly present on his hip. “You’re police,” the boy declared.

“That’s right, buddy, I’m the police,” Sonny said, taking his badge off and showing it to the boy. “See?”

“Sonny, I swear to God, I will shove that badge down your throat if you bring it on our next date.”

“Raf, what if I need it?”

“Can you at least put it in your pocket next time?”

“Police!”

“Yes, buddy, police,” Sonny said with far more patience than Rafael could _ever_ have mustered for a four-year-old child. “Where’s your mommy and daddy?”

The boy looked sad. “Don’t know. That’s why I find police.”

“Oh, buddy,” Sonny said, scooping the boy up in his arms. “Let me finish eating, and we’ll make sure we find your mommy and daddy, okay?”

“Okay,” the boy said quietly, snuggling into Sonny’s embrace.

“Sonny, can you just call the local precinct to deal with a missing child?” Rafael asked through gritted teeth. “It’s a missing child, surely they can handle it.”

Sonny ruffled the child’s hair. “You know a missing child would likely end up an SVU case, Raf,” he said placatingly. “In about two hours, my phone would ring anyway.”

“Not likely, I had words with Liv about Saturdays,” Rafael muttered as he stabbed his chocolate cake with far more force than necessary. “It’s in our custody agreement, do you want to see it?”

Sonny’s smile was blinding. “Aww, you two have a custody agreement over me?”

“Shut up,” Rafael said without any real heat. “At least call _her_ to deal with the missing child.”

“She’s with Noah,” Sonny said as if that explained everything. 

“And I’m with my boyfriend, with whom I _still_ haven’t had a real date. For the love of God, can we please have one date where you aren’t a cop?”

“Next Saturday,” Sonny promised. He finished his cake, having given the little boy at least half, and pulled out his phone. “I’ll alert the squadroom we’re coming, and we’ll see if we can’t track this boy’s parents down.”

“We’re going to the squadroom?” Rafael asked in disbelief.

“Unless you want to find this boy’s parents from one of our apartments, yes.”

“One of our”. That didn’t sound right. It should’ve been _“our”_.

“Move in with me,” Rafael muttered into his last bite of cake.

“What?” Sonny asked.

“You heard me.”

“We still haven’t been on a proper date.”

“I don’t care, move in anyway.”

The smile Sonny gave was, if possible, more blinding than before. “Next Friday,” he promised. “And next Saturday, I’ll stick my badge in my pocket,” he vowed.

So much for their third date.

*** 

They were on their way to their fourth date. Sonny was driving, promising that this time, nothing would interrupt it.

(The little boy had ended up being their case for the week. They had found evidence of abuse while tracking down the parents, and it had been an SVU case, and Sonny had been smug as fuck about not calling the local precinct to deal with it. Rafael couldn’t even begrudge him it, because the details had ended up bringing Sonny down completely.

Sonny had moved in by Wednesday. Rafael had ended up having second thoughts early in the week; he hadn’t shared his apartment with anyone since college, but Sonny was over more often than not – he reminded himself this was a formality more than anything. And Thursday, it was completely natural to have Sonny stroll over to the closet and open it for his stuff, not to just grab what he brought over to wear the next day.

Rafael almost went into work with a goofy smile).

“Do you _see_ the way this idiot is driving?” Sonny asked, slamming on his brakes again.

“Jesus, Sonny, remember you’re not in a squad car, will you?” Rafael asked as the air was knocked out him by the seat belt.

“Sorry, Raf,” Sonny said, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand. He frowned thoughtfully at the car ahead of him.

“Sonny,” Rafael said warningly. “You’re not a cop tonight.”

“No, of course not,” Sonny said distractedly.

Rafael sighed and slumped in his seat. He reminded himself that to do anything about this bad driver, Sonny would have to get out of the car and chase the driver on foot. He wouldn’t put it past his boyfriend, of course, but he thought it somewhat unlikely, especially since Rafael couldn’t exactly take over driving the car (Rafael had never learned how to drive. He lived in _New York_ , public transit had been good enough when he was growing up, and once he became a lawyer, cabs and then Uber were his go-to. At this point, he swore he was too old to learn to drive).

The car ahead of them swerved alarmingly across three lanes, luckily missing all traffic.

“He’s _drunk_ ,” Sonny said in wonder. “ _Look_ at that.”

“So call it in and let’s _go_ ,” Rafael answered. “Hell, _I’ll_ call it in, I’ve certainly done enough of that these past few weeks.”

“Nah,” Sonny said, digging around behind him. “Aha!” he said triumphantly, coming up with a siren and a flashing light.

Rafael facepalmed. “Why do you have that in your car?”

“Because it’s one of the cars we use on stakeouts,” Sonny explained. He stuck the light on the dash and turned it on, chasing the car ahead of them. “Hang on.” He turned on the police radio he had in the car and called it in.

Rafael waited until he finished calling it in and said plaintively, “ _One date_ , Sonny, that’s all I ask. _One date_ when you’re not a cop.”

“Raf, do you know how dangerous drunk driving is? This guy could kill someone before patrol shows up! It’s my duty to take him off the road. You know I took an oath.”

Rafael at least had time to admire Sonny’s driving as they weaved in and out of traffic, chasing the car which apparently had zero intention of pulling over for them. Sonny was skillful, leading them through tight spaces with apparent ease. The guy ahead of them finally crashed into a pole, the chase having been joined by a squad car not a minute before, and Sonny stepped out of the car, his gun at the ready.

Rafael sighed and pulled his phone out to make his time productive, at least. He figured they wouldn’t be making their reservations; Sonny probably would get caught up in making a statement to the patrol who responded.

So much for their fourth date.

*** 

It was a good thing, Rafael mused, that they spent so much time together in between Saturdays, otherwise he’d go nuts. They worked together, they now lived together, they slept together, they just _could not manage_ to go on a proper date without being interrupted. 

(The drunk driver suffered minimal damage. The passenger in his car was not so lucky and had been rushed off to the hospital. Sonny had been relatively quick, all things considered, although they _had_ missed their reservations. Sonny had offered to cook them dinner as an apology, which Rafael had begrudgingly accepted. Sonny’s cooking was excellent, which he knew perfectly well, but it still wasn’t a proper _date_. He was really getting attached to having _one proper date_ with his damn boyfriend already).

They had decided that for their fifth attempt they would go through Central Park, take in some sights. Maybe restaurants and bars were cursed. Rafael didn’t believe in the supernatural or the religious, but he was fast running out of explanations.

Sonny had readily agreed. Rafael knew perfectly well that within five minutes, they’d be holding hands in public, but it wasn’t even with resignation that he let his hand be taken in Sonny’s. He squeezed gently, letting Sonny know this was okay, he was okay with this, and they strolled through Central Park together.

Sonny was entertaining Rafael with a running commentary of all the crimes he seen committed in the various areas here. Rafael, despite himself, was laughing. Crime, right now, was a topic that he didn’t want to think about, since that’s why they hadn’t had a proper date yet, but Sonny was so funny Rafael couldn’t bring himself to tell him to change the subject.

“Oh, right there!” Sonny said delightedly. “There’s where we caught a guy giving three men blowjobs! I didn’t know who to chase first! Fin went one way, Amanda another, I went a third, and the Lieu ended up having to deal with the guy on his knees!” 

“You’re making it up,” Rafael said dryly.

“No way. And the guy I was chasing, he had those baggy jeans, y’know, and they kept falling down, plus, y’know, he still wasn’t zipped up from his blowjob, so his pants were like down around his knees after like four steps, but he was still shuffling away, and by like the tenth step he just decided to leave his pants there and just ran off in his boxers, dick still hanging out.”

“Now I _know_ you’re making this up.”

“Eh, it’s probably on YouTube somewhere,” Sonny laughed. “Probably something like ‘NYPD Cop Takes Down Man In Boxers’. You should search it.”

Rafael considered it for a moment. He’d probably get a laugh out of it; he’d seen Sonny run before. For all his speed, Sonny ran like a baby giraffe finding its legs for the first time.

“And here,” Sonny said, pointing at another tree, “Behind here, we found two couples swinging. I mean, full swap, right? In full view of the park, at like midnight. Just me and Amanda, we were walking Frannie one night after a really late dinner, back when she was pregnant, and we come across this full swap, and we’re like, what the hell? So Amanda marches over, Frannie still on her leash, and tells them they have exactly thirty seconds to disentangle themselves and put their clothes back on, and they can all come down to the station with us to be cited for public lewdness, except that’s when we realize we _walked_ to Central Park, so we don’t have any way to get them to the station, and between us, we have one pair of handcuffs, because Amanda didn’t bring hers, so we got four people to cuff, and one pair of cuffs, and – ”

Rafael could barely stand upright, he was laughing so hard. “Stop, stop, _amorito_ ,” he panted. “Let me catch my breath.”

Sonny paused for a moment. Rafael collected himself a bit and made a motion for Sonny to continue. “So I’m holding my cuffs like, which one of them should I bother cuffing, I mean, they’re all equally guilty, right? And Amanda’s got Frannie, and she’s got her cell phone out, calling the local precinct, and they haven’t given us their names, and finally one of them asks me, ‘So uh, if we just walked out of here, could you really stop us?’ and Amanda gives them this death glare, like ‘Just fucking try me.’ And one of the guys goes, ‘Well, I mean, there’s four of us and two of you, and you only have one pair of cuffs, and she’s pregnant anyway, so I mean…’ and then they all look at each other and run in four different directions, and Amanda just swears up this blue storm while getting off the phone with the precinct because we lost them, and we can’t even chase them, though Frannie’s straining at her leash to at least go after _one_ of them.”

“I bet Detective Rollins just _loved_ that.”

“Oh, you have no idea how much shit Fin gave her for that one for, like, a week,” Sonny said, his face lighting up with the memory. “Trying to bring in four people with no car while pregnant. He said only she would be so goddamn stubborn.”

Rafael could easily imagine Fin teasing Rollins like that, little barbed comments about it for a week.

“Come,” he said, leading Sonny along. “Tell me more about your exploits in Central Park.”

Sonny deliberately stayed away from dangerous situations he had found himself in, focusing instead on light, funny ones.

“Oh! So right around here, we were looking for this guy, right? He’d been following women on some jogging paths, we’d had a description, someone even got a photo of him by accident. And I’m helping look when I hear this noise come from one of these big trashcans, so I go look, and inside, I find our guy, dressed in a fucking Spongebob Squarepants costume, in the middle of fucking July, hiding out inside this trashcan, lounging around like it’s totally fine, and I try to get him to come out, but the only thing he'll respond to is Spongebob Squarepants, so we have to call him that until we get him down to the precinct and strip him and get him into NYPD sweats.”

“And right here,” Sonny said, pointing, “I was walking along, badge _clearly_ on my hip, when I was like, y’know what, I’m tired, so I sat down next to this guy, who was high as fuck. He takes one look at me and says, ‘Dude, the cops are after me’. I figured he was paranoid too, so I just went ‘Okay’ and went and ignored him, and he said, ‘No, really, the cops are, I need you to take this’, and he fucking handed me three bags of cocaine.”

“He did not.”

“Hand to God, he did. He handed me three bags of cocaine to hold so that the cops wouldn’t find it. With my badge _on my hip_.”

“Was he the _stupidest_ addict you’ve ever met?”

“Close to,” Sonny admitted. “I looked at him and went, ‘Are you actually giving me cocaine in Central Park?’ and he said, ‘Shhh! Not so loud, cops are everywhere’ and I just couldn’t help myself, I started laughing. I pointed to my badge and said, ‘Yes, like right here’ and cuffed him.”

Rafael threw his head back and laughed. “I would just _love_ to know what story his defense attorney went with.”

Sonny was about to answer when a woman next to them started screaming “Help! My purse! Help, please, he has my purse!” 

Rafael groaned. This had been _so pleasant_. Sonny was immediately dashing off into the crowd after the guy, running after him full pelt. Rafael at least enjoyed that; Sonny really did run like a baby giraffe finding its legs for the first time. Nobody else made any move to chase the perp, instead pulling out their phones and filming Sonny running after the hooded man. Rafael sighed and pulled his phone out to call the police.

The call done, he turned his attention to the hysterical woman. “What happened?” he asked, trying to hide his annoyance. _She_ wasn’t at fault, after all.

“He just… grabbed it! I was walking and I felt this tug and next thing I knew, my purse was gone and he was running and no one was helping except that skinny guy!”

“Did he threaten you? Pull a weapon?” Rafael was suddenly concerned. He was pretty sure Sonny had brought his gun – Sonny had said he never left the apartment without it, after all – and he knew Sonny was perfectly capable of handling people wielding weapons, but he was still worried.

“No, no, he just grabbed and ran.” The woman looked suspiciously at him. “Are you the police? Why aren’t you chasing him, then?”

“No, no, I’m not the police. I’m a Manhattan ADA. Rafael Barba.” He stuck his hand out. “My boyfriend, who’s chasing the thief, _is_ a cop.”

“Oh. Uh, Emily Ditmars,” she said, shaking his hand. “Thanks.” She looked around worriedly. “Where is he?”

Rafael was wondering the same thing. Sonny had been gone a while. He knew Sonny was stubborn and would probably chase the thief through countless paths and even alleyways if he had to, and the thief had been _fast_ , but surely Sonny had caught up by now? “I’m sure he’ll be back any moment,” Rafael said finally. “He’s good at his job.” Rafael didn’t add that Sonny wasn’t on the clock right now or that they were on a _date_ , thank you, or that Sonny wasn’t supposed to be chasing a thief right this second, he was supposed to be telling Rafael silly stories about stupid criminals. He led the woman to a bench, to sit down. She looked shaken still.

“Will he get it back?” Emily asked.

Rafael honestly couldn’t care less. It was a purse. Cancel the stupid cards, replace the driver’s license or ID, replace the phone. He knew women carried more than that in their purses, but it wasn’t worth Sonny chasing some idiot this far over it. 

“I’m sure he will,” he said as soothingly as he could. 

“Just… today’s the day I’m supposed to pay my rent,” Emily said, holding back tears. “I was on my way to get a money order for it, and all the cash I could get together was in there, and I don’t know where I’ll get more cash, and it’s so much money, and oh God… that’s like, two weeks’ worth, y’know?”

Rafael remembered those days, scraping by, never knowing where the next cent would come from, and he regretted his earlier impatience. “I know. I’m sorry, Emily.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly. His boyfriend was better at this soothing thing than he was, but of course his boyfriend was currently busy.

Rafael scanned the path, looking for Sonny. 

Two officers jogged up. “Looking for a Rafael Barba?” one of them asked, scanning the crowd. 

Rafael stood. “That’s me. I have a victim of a purse-snatching here,” he said, indicating Emily. He was about to add more, but then he spotted Sonny.

Sonny had finally appeared, purse in one hand, marching the thief along, whistling cheerfully. “Got him!” he crowed exuberantly. “Took me a bit, but I tackled him in the end.” He led the thief to the officers and handed him off. 

“Hello! I’m Detective Dominick Carisi Jr,” he introduced himself. “He’s been Mirandized.”

“Good work, Detective.”

“And here is your purse, ma’am,” Sonny said with a bright smile, handing the purse to Emily with a flourish. 

“Just need a statement from you, Detective, and you, Mr. Barba, and we’ll be done here,” one of the officers said.

So much for their fifth date.

*** 

They were on their way to their sixth date. Rafael had by this time lost hope that they would actually get _through_ their sixth date, but Sonny was determined to try. Besides, he had said cheekily, didn’t the custody agreement with Liv say that Rafael got Saturdays?

(There was no follow-up on the purse-snatching, not that Rafael had really expected one. Emily had called once to ask if he’d be prosecuting that case to which Rafael had let her down gently, saying that it wasn’t his area. Sonny had taken him back to Central Park the next day to finish pointing out areas of interest. Rafael still refused to count that as a proper date). 

So they were on their way now to a lecture at Hudson U, one that both of them had been interested in for a while. Both of them had been hesitant to go to Hudson, given all that surrounded it and all of the negative interactions there, but when they learned that Bayard Ellis would be giving the talk, Sonny had all but begged Rafael to go. Truth be told, Rafael had been intrigued, too – he respected Ellis greatly – and he wanted to hear the man speak.

They had picked out their seats and were studying the program when Sonny stood up.

“Do not tell me your Spidey-sense is tingling,” Rafael deadpanned. “You are _not_ a cop tonight. It’s a law talk. Think of yourself as a lawyer! I mean, you actually passed the Bar and everything, you even qualify!”

“No, I just need to pee,” Sonny said. “I figure now is better than during the actual talk.”

“I may just teach you manners yet.”

Sonny squeezed his hand and headed off to the bathroom. He pissed quickly and washed his hands, eager to head back, not wanting to miss a minute of the talk. He paused for a moment. He thought he had heard – there, again. A low groan. 

“Hello?” he called out. “Anyone there?”

Another low groan.

Sonny went through the bathroom, checking the stalls. Empty. Empty. Empty. He got to the handicapped one and opened it to find a bloody young man in the corner, curled in a ball. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, I got you,” he said, crouching down next to him. “What happened?”

The young man flinched away from his touch.

Sonny held his hands up non-threateningly. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sonny soothed. “I just want to take a look at your injuries. Can I, please?”

The man nodded hesitantly, and Sonny examined him quickly. His left arm was likely broken, and he had a head wound. His pants were down, there were signs of sexual assault. Definite bleeding.

“What’s your name?” Sonny asked.

The man shook his head.

“Hey. It’s okay, I’m a police officer,” Sonny coaxed. “Look.” He pulled his badge out of his pocket, where he had promised Rafael he’d keep it during date night. “I’m Detective Carisi.”

“I don’t want the police,” the man hiccupped.

“I’m going to call you an ambulance, at least, okay? You need to be checked out.” Sonny pulled out his phone and dialed 911. “This is Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr, badge number 0188. I have a young male at Hudson University…” he quickly described the location and the condition, then requested a bus.

The bathroom door opened. 

“Sonny, did you fall in? The talk’s about to start.”

Oh right, Rafael. And the talk.

“I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t move,” Sonny said softly. He stood up and headed out of the stall.

“Hey, Raf.”

“Sonny – that’s blood.”

Sonny glanced down at his hands. He hadn’t noticed yet that they were bloody. He stepped closer to Raf so he could talk quietly.

“It’s not mine. There’s a college kid in there, I think he’s been raped. I’ve called a bus.”

Rafael threw his hands up dramatically. “Even when it’s not a romantic activity, we can’t have a night off! I guess you’re going to ride with him to the hospital?”

Sonny grimaced. “Well, I can’t just leave him here. I was just about to call Liv that we have a case. I’m sorry, Raf.”

Rafael relented and pressed a quick kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. “No, I know, _amorito_. Do you need help?”

“The bus should be here any minute, but I want to talk to him. Can you call Liv?”

“One day you’ll give me a task other than calling it in,” Rafael muttered.

“Maybe when you graduate the Academy,” Sonny joked. He ducked back into the bathroom stall while Rafael dialed Liv.

_“Barba, what is it?”_

“My idiot of a boyfriend caught a case for you on _our date night_ ,” Rafael grumbled. “Possible rape victim at Hudson U, male, ambulance on the way now. Sonny will ride with, he says. He’s talking to the victim now, or at least trying. I guess meet him at the hospital?”

_“I thought you got Saturday nights?”_ Liv joked.

“Apparently not. Are you coming or not?”

_“Let him know I’ll meet him there.”_

Sonny, meanwhile, was talking to the victim. “Can you tell me your name, please?”

“Max,” the young man finally said. “I’m… I’m a sophomore here.”

“Good, that’s good. What can you remember?”

“I don’t… I just came in to go to the bathroom!”

“It’s not your fault, Max. What happened? That’s on him – or them. Not on you, you hear me?”

The door banged open again and the EMTs came in.

“We’re going to get you to the hospital now, Max, and I’m gonna ride in the ambulance with you, okay?”

Rafael realized something. Sonny had driven them to Hudson U, and Rafael still didn’t know how to drive. He supposed he could Uber home – he had done it plenty of times before – but he might as well follow the case now, since he figured he’d be prosecuting it later.

He pulled one of the EMTs aside. 

“Sir, you have to let us do our work.”

“I’m with him,” Rafael said, pointing to Sonny. “Detective Carisi is the one who found the victim. I’m his boyfriend and Manhattan ADA Rafael Barba, and I wanted to ask if I could ride in the front with you, so I can stay with the case, as I’ll likely be prosecuting it anyway.”

The EMTs looked at each other and shrugged. “Makes no difference to us. Detective?”

“Of course.”

Rafael hadn’t realized that he wouldn’t be in the hospital room getting the victim’s statement. No, that was up to the police – Liv and Sonny – who were coaxing it out of Max now. He was busy waiting in the waiting room, drinking a cup of some unidentifiable liquid he refused to call coffee, as it insulted coffee. He debated calling an Uber, but Sonny would likely be worried if he came out and found Barba gone.

Barba sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. If nothing else, there was plenty of emails to catch up on.

So much for their sixth date.

*** 

Rafael put his foot down. They were _not_ going out for a seventh one. Their seventh date would be a cozy Netflix-and-chill thing. Sonny had argued that that was what they did during the week when they were both too tired from work to actually do something, but Rafael said that clearly the universe didn’t want them to have a date night, so their first actual, proper, real, uninterrupted date would be Netflix and chill and a homecooked meal if Sonny felt up to it, but by God, if the only way they were going to have a date was staying at home, then so be it. 

Besides, it would be a real date because they were both there and it was Saturday, so it counted.

Sonny decided he could work with that.

(They had just arrested Max’s three rapists. Rafael had ended up having to pass on prosecuting them, as he’d have to call Sonny to testify, and their relationship would be called into question by the defense. O’Dwyer would end up prosecuting, which Rafael was fine with – O’Dwyer was a good man and a good lawyer. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but he knew he could count on O’Dwyer to get the kid justice.

It had been a difficult case in the beginning, as Max had been scared to talk to them, but Sonny had taken the lead, finally, on a case, and coaxed the story out of him. They had bonded over being the scrawny, LGBTQ kid, always on the outside, and Sonny had ended up telling the kid about growing up queer and Catholic and not quite fitting in anywhere. Tormented by bullies and wanting an out and he’d held the kid’s hand in the hospital bed and looked him in the eye and said, “Listen to me. This wasn’t right. But I can promise you. It gets better.” And he unlocked his phone and showed Max a selfie of him and Rafael and said, “When I was your age, I never thought I’d have this. I do. And you will too.”

And Max had finally opened up to him, told him about the frat boys “straightening out the faggot”, as they had said, and beating him and humiliating him by raping him in the end, and he’d named them, and picked them out of a lineup right away, and his story was rock-solid. Sonny had come home that day and muttered, “I thought it was 2017, Raf, not 1997. Shit, nothing’s changed from when I was a kid, y’know?” Rafael had held him extra tight that night.)

They’d just finished dinner and Rafael sat down on the couch, pulling Sonny down with him. “You pick the movie,” he said generously.

“Oh, you’re trusting _my_ taste in movies?” Sonny asked incredulously.

“No, but I’ll let you pick anyway.”

“You ever see Deadpool?”

“I think I’m going to hate it just based on the name.”

“Didn’t they ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover?”

“They never said anything about judging a movie based on its title, though.”

An hour later, Rafael had to admit he found it funny. He had to admit it, because Sonny had caught him laughing several times. Okay, many times. “It’s pretty stupid but it’s funny,” he said.

“Stupid but funny, kind of like me.”

“Don’t say that. You’re not stupid.”

“How often have you told me I’m never right?” Sonny said, turning to look at Rafael.

Rafael paused the movie. “You… _idiot_. You can’t tell when I’m _teasing_ you?”

“Well…”

“You’re a detective for one of NYPD’s elite units, who also managed to graduate law school – and while Fordham is not Harvard, it is a fine legal school – you passed the Bar, all while working 60 or 70 hour weeks. That is not the definition of _stupid_ , Dominick Carisi, and don’t you dare forget it.” Rafael was all business now.

“Okay, okay,” Sonny said, trying to break the tension. “I know you’re serious when you use my actual name.”

They heard screaming through the walls suddenly. Rafael sighed. “Just ignore them, they fight constantly.”

“I’ve noticed,” Sonny said dryly. “I’ve been living here for several weeks now.” 

A warm tendril curled through Rafael at that. “Yeah. Yeah, you have.” He kissed Sonny.

They heard several loud thumps followed by a clear “No, don’t!”

Sonny jumped up and scrambled for his gun and badge.

“For the love of God, Sonny, can’t we just call the police?” Rafael begged.

“I _am_ the police,” Sonny reminded him, heading for the door.

“It’s a DV situation, you know better than to run into one of those without backup!” 

“And let one of them get beaten? Call for backup; I’m gonna go check it out!”

Rafael grabbed his cell phone and his slippers, then scooped up Sonny’s cuffs, just in case. “I’m coming with, at least. I know I don’t have a gun like you, but at least you’ll have a witness with you.”

“I don’t want you in danger.”

“And you think I want _you_ in danger?”

“This is my _job_ , Raf.”

“ _Not tonight._ ”

Sonny ignored that and threw open their door. He ignored Rafael padding along behind him, calling the police. Sonny listened at their neighbor’s door for a moment, the fight still escalating. He banged loudly on it, calling, “NYPD! Open up!”

No response.

Sonny banged louder. “NYPD! Open the door now, or I will kick it down.”

“ _Please, don’t do this!_ ” Sonny heard through the door, followed by a scream.

Sonny took a step back and kicked the door down. Rafael bit back a moan at that. He had never seen his boyfriend do anything like that before, and frankly, it was more than a little hot.

“NYPD!” he called, entering the apartment, gun leading the way. Rafael hung back in the open doorway cautiously. Sonny saw a man holding onto a woman by the hair, punching her.

“Let go of her, now!” he ordered, leveling his gun. “Right now, let go!”

The man stopped punching but didn’t let go. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded. 

“Oh, now you can hear me?” Sonny said. “I banged on your door twice.” 

“You can’t just barge in here! Especially not with a gun! What is this, a robbery?”

“What? No, I told you, I’m the police! I heard the screaming and came to check it out.”

The man looked critically at Sonny. “In your pajamas?”

Sonny glanced down at himself but to his credit, didn’t blush. Rafael had forgotten, too, that they had both gotten in pajamas before settling in on the couch for the movie. He wished he had at least put on a robe before following Sonny, especially since the police would be here any moment. 

“Let go of her now,” Sonny ordered again. This time, the man complied. “And you’re under arrest… oh.” He still didn’t blush, but he looked disoriented for a moment as he realized he didn’t have his cuffs with him.

Rafael handed the cuffs over and said, “Thought you might need these.”

“Thanks. As I was saying, you’re under arrest.”

Rafael went to check on the woman while Sonny arrested the man. This wasn’t his area of expertise – he had little knowledge of what to check for, but he could at least try to calm her down. Backup should be here soon, and they could deal with this.

The officers arrived barely a minute later. They took in the scene: the kicked in door, the cuffed man, Rafael and Sonny in their pajamas, Sonny’s gun, tucked into the waistband of his pajama pants, and their hands went to their weapons. 

“Hands up!”

Sonny and Rafael put their hands up immediately. One of the officers took Sonny’s weapon and started to release the man.

“Hey, no, I just arrested him!” Sonny protested. “I’m NYPD, Detective Dominick Carisi Jr, SVU. My badge is in my pocket, I’m going to reach for it now.”

“Slowly!”

“Okay, okay.” Sonny slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge. 

“Color of the day.”

“Blue.”

The officers took their hands off their weapons, and handed Sonny his gun back. Sonny tucked it back into his waistband. “Sorry, Detective. Just… you know how it looks. What’s going on here?”

“We heard a fight going on, called it in but came to check it out when we heard it get physical. I banged on the door and identified myself as NYPD, but when I heard her scream for him to stop, I kicked in the door – exigent circumstances. I found him holding her by the hair and punching her, pulled my weapon and ordered him to let her go, then arrested him.”

One of the officers raised an eyebrow. “In your pajamas?”

“I’m sorry, I thought it was more urgent to check out the potential DV situation than to put on clothes,” Sonny said tersely. 

The officers glanced at each other, and Rafael tensed. He didn’t want to make the situation worse, but he was going to have words if the officers laughed at his boyfriend for this, rushing off to protect someone even if they _were_ in their pajamas. But they didn’t laugh. The first one said, “Okay, sounds in order. You guys willing to come down to the station and make a statement? Maybe after you both put some clothes on?”

So much for their seventh date.

*** 

They were heading out for their eighth date. Honestly, by this point, Rafael didn’t see the point in bothering, but Sonny had been teasing him about Saturdays being Rafael’s custody day, and Rafael gave in. Besides, they couldn’t be cursed _forever_ , surely? Eventually, they’d have a proper date, right?

(The couple had ended up being SVU’s case as well, as the wife had come forward with a rape allegation. Several. Barba, again, couldn’t prosecute that case, as he was being called as a witness, and given the way Sonny had found them, he was kept at arms-length from it, too. “Sorry, Carisi,” Liv had said, “But the defense is going to have a field-day with you finding them in your pajamas. They’re going to make it seem like it’s personal.”

“Because I decided to interrupt a crime-in-progress instead of putting on clothes?” Sonny had asked in disbelief.

“You don’t need me to tell you how lawyers operate. And you know they’ll twist the responding officers around, the kicked-in door, the fact that at first it looked like _you_ would’ve been under arrest.”)

They were strolling down the street, heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner, walking hand-in-hand. Rafael secretly enjoyed holding hands with Sonny, not that he’d admit it. Sonny’s hand was warm and comforting and there was a touch of the romantic about the whole situation.

It was getting late; they had been… delayed that afternoon. Unavoidably. Rafael looked over at Sonny, who was still a bit flushed from their afternoon love-making. They were alone on this stretch of the street, just some guy coming near them.

“In the alleyway,” the guy said, gesturing at them through his pocket. They could both see the outline of a gun, and Sonny sighed and pulled Rafael into the alleyway.

“ _You_ have a gun,” Rafael muttered to him quietly.

“And I’m not pulling it in the middle of a street,” Sonny muttered back. “Besides, aren’t you always telling me not to be a cop on Saturdays?”

“You know what? Tonight, I can handle you being a cop.”

The guy followed them into the alleyway, pulling his gun, only to find Sonny’s already pointed at him. “ _Drop it_ ,” Sonny ordered. “Drop it _right now_!”

The guy pulled his and pointed it at Sonny. “You drop yours!”

Sonny held his steady. “You think you’re as good a shot as I am? Can you react as fast as I can? Drop your weapon!”

The mugger switched his aim to Rafael. “You might have a gun, but it doesn’t look like he does. How ‘bout I shoot him instead? Or will you drop your gun now?”

Rafael sighed. “Sonny. Just. Drop your gun. We can just give him the cash we have.”

Sonny looked at him incredulously. “Then what’s the point of me bringing my gun with me, if I can’t even protect us?”

“He’s strung out, he’s looking for a fix, he’s not thinking straight. Drop the gun, let him take the money, it’s not worth one of us getting hurt.”

Sonny sighed and let his gun clatter to the ground. He kicked it away from them. “Happy?” he asked sourly. Rafael wasn’t quite sure whether Sonny was asking him or the mugger. 

“Delighted,” Rafael said grimly.

“You know how this goes,” the mugger continued. “Give me everything.”

Rafael immediately complied, figuring it wasn’t worth pissing off the mugger any further. He took out his wallet and handed it over without hesitation. Sonny was slower, but with a grumble, he handed his over as well.

“Phones, too.”

Rafael bit back a protest at that. He _needed_ his phone, what if someone needed a warrant? There was confidential information on his phone. He… No, he could wipe it remotely from his computer, they’d just have to hurry back home so he could do it ASAP. Sonny could call in the crime while Rafael wiped the phone from his computer. They could get a new phone tonight so that he could be contacted. It was fine. Okay. He handed his Blackberry over. 

Sonny hesitated. “I need it, I’m on call.”

“What, like a doctor?” the mugger sneered. 

“Yeah, kinda,” Sonny answered. “Look, it’s life or death, okay? I really need to hang onto it, just in case. You can have everything else, okay? Everything else. Even my gun. Just not my phone.”

The mugger frowned. 

“Sonny. _Amorito_. Just… hand over your phone.”

Sonny looked stricken, torn between his duty to his squad and the very real danger of getting shot by a strung-out mugger. “Sonny, you absolute fucking idiot, _hand over your goddamn phone we will replace it tonight just hand over your fucking phone._ ”

Sonny reluctantly handed over his phone to the mugger. “And I wish him luck with it,” Sonny muttered under his breath to Rafael. “Our latest case is on there, the phone is city property.”

“Your latest case?”

“Child pornography. Some of the images are on the phone.”

“Sonny, _you carry that around with you?_ ”

“Phone is city property, I’m not breaking the law.”

“That’s not exactly my concern here. Although if the mugger turns you in…”

“He’d have to explain how he got city property in the first place,” Sonny muttered. He tensed again as the gun pointed up at them.

“Look, we gave you everything,” Sonny snapped. 

“I don’t like the way the two of you are plotting,” the mugger responded, clearly panicking.

“Plotting?” Sonny asked with a hollow laugh. “ _Plotting_? I’ll show you plotting.”

“Oh, no,” Rafael said with a groan. 

Sonny charged the mugger, taking him by surprise. The gun went off, and Rafael expected there to be pain, or for Sonny to scream, but there was neither, the bullet harmlessly burying itself in the wall. Sonny easily pinned the mugger’s gun arm, holding it down, and pressed down on his wrist hard, forcing his grip on the gun to loosen.

As soon as it did, Sonny wrenched it aside, tossing it away, out of reach. 

Rafael reacted quickly and grabbed both guns, making sure the mugger couldn’t reach either. He didn’t bother aiming either at the fighting pair – he had no experience shooting guns, and with the way Sonny and the mugger were rolling on the ground, he’d likely shoot Sonny, not the mugger. Sonny was getting the upper hand, though, surely but slowly. Sonny was trained in this, fit, and not jonesing for a fix. 

Rafael reached for his cellphone to call the precinct – _again_ – when he realized that he didn’t have it, the mugger did. Rafael sighed and left the alleyway to attempt to flag down someone and ask them to call 911. He was no use in the fight currently happening, the least he could do was make sure the police showed up sooner rather than later.

By the time he returned, Sonny had the guy pinned against the ground, a knee on his back keeping him down.

“You are so under arrest,” Sonny grunted. “Didn’t I mention? I’m a cop. Why do you think I was carrying?”

“I didn’t see a badge!” the mugger protested.

Sonny, his knee firmly planted on the guy’s back, fished in his pocket for his badge. He waved it in front of the guy’s face. “Happy now?” he asked grimly. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you.”

Two officers appeared in the alleyway. The same two that had appeared the week before at the apartment.

“Detective Carisi,” the first one greeted. “Doing our jobs for us again?”

“Take this son of a bitch down to the station,” Sonny snarled, finally getting off him, yanking him to his feet. 

So much for their eighth date.

*** 

Their ninth date was the week after, of course. By now, Sonny was as determined as Rafael to get through a date, going as far as to apologize for all the interruptions. Rafael knew that Sonny couldn’t just let a crime happen without stopping it, and he reassured Sonny that he understood, that he appreciated Sonny’s commitment to his oath. Sonny had squeezed his arm gratefully.

(The mugging had made the news, earning Sonny a bit of publicity for his crime-stopping skills. It had been a one-day sensation until some other news stories distracted the public. Sonny was quite glad about that, as his coworkers made endless fun of him for even the one day of headlines. 

Rafael had spent the whole night checking that Sonny was okay after tackling the mugger, that the mugger hadn’t gotten a lucky shot off. Sonny had tolerated the attention well. 

Rafael had pushed for the mugger to be charged with assaulting a police officer, and the ADA in charge of the case, cowed by Rafael, had tried, but the judge had – quite fairly – ruled that Sonny had not identified himself as a police officer until the fight was over, that even his badge had not been on display but in his pocket. As such, the mugger could not have known he was assaulting a police officer. Rafael had been _pissed_ but had no one to blame but himself, as he was the one who had insisted that Sonny not wear the badge on date nights anymore.)

Rafael was starting to hope that their luck had changed. They had actually made it all the way through dinner. All the way through dessert.

They had managed to leave the restaurant. Nothing had happened to send Sonny into cop-mode. 

The date had been excellent, too. They had swapped funny stories about their pasts, about their weeks. Rafael had, after being asked, told the story where he had made a rapist strangle him with a belt in open court. “My first case at SVU,” Rafael had said proudly. 

Sonny had looked at him in awe. “You _made_ a rapist strangle you with a belt?”

“Mm. Rita was the defense attorney, too, for an extra boost,” he had said with a laugh. “You should’ve seen her face when I goaded her client into yanking that belt.”

Sonny had laughed. And laughed. “Oh, I can just imagine.”

They were walking home now, hand-in-hand again. They were _so close_ to the apartment. A block and a half away, and then they’d actually have had a successful date, especially since there’d be no fights in the building – the husband next door was still in jail for rape and assault.

Almost. 

They heard gunshots coming from a nearby alley. “Raf. Don’t follow me,” Sonny cautioned, yanking his gun out of the holster. “Just call it in.” With his other hand, Sonny was busy sliding his badge on. 

“Of course,” Rafael sighed. He had zero intention of following Sonny, of course. While he was by no means thrilled about Sonny running _towards_ gunfire, he was certainly not about to run towards it himself. He knew that Sonny had training on how to deal with it; Rafael had none of that. He wasn’t a coward, of course, but there was no need for him to run towards gunshots too.

He dug his cellphone out of his pocket sourly and called 911. He didn’t blame Sonny – he knew Sonny couldn’t ignore something like gunshots, he knew no cop could. But they had been so close – another block and a half, and they would have been home.

Rafael called it in, wincing as dispatch recognized him by now, and gave the sparse details he knew – there were three gunshots in the alley that they had heard. A detective had run after it, alone but armed. No, he didn’t know how many people were in the alley or what was going on, he didn’t have a weapon and he had stayed on the street while the detective checked it out. He didn’t know if anyone was injured. 

Sonny, meanwhile, had ran – flailed – to the alley. He peered around the corner to check if it was safe to enter, then went around, gun leading the way. He found one person on the ground, bleeding, and one person fleeing.

Shit.

“Stop! Police!”

No response. Sonny dashed after them, determined to bring the assailant down. He knew the person on the ground needed medical help, and he yanked his phone out, hoping Rafael was off the phone already. 

_“Barba.”_

“Raf. I’m chasing the shooter now. There’s a person in the alleyway, bleeding. Go to them. I don’t know how many wounds, hopefully only one. Put pressure on the wound, okay? As much as you can. Try to keep them conscious. That’s important, try to keep them conscious. If there’s more than one wound, keep pressure on the major one. Did you call 911?”

_“Of course I did.”_

“Okay. The alleyway is clear, it’s just the injured person. Please, Raf, I need you to do this.”

_“Okay, Sonny.”_

Sonny ended the call and kept up the chase, dashing after the shooter. 

Rafael hurried into the alleyway. He had never tended to a wounded person before, never had _needed_ to, all he had were Sonny’s quick instructions, but obviously, he could do this. He went to the wounded person – _woman_ – quickly and, with a grimace at the dirt, kneeled down next to her.

She was bleeding, profusely. He tried to locate the wound in all the blood. How was anyone supposed to be able to tell where it was coming from? Finally, he found it – her chest, on the left. Hopefully nothing important had been hit. Sighing, and with another grimace, he yanked his jacket off and pressed it to the still-bleeding wound.

“Can you hear me?” he asked worriedly. “Are you with me?”

“Hurts… so bad,” she managed.

“The police and an ambulance are on their way,” he reassured, pressing as hard as he could. He could feel the blood seeping through his jacket and onto his fingers, but he kept the pressure up. “Stay with me. What’s your name?”

“Marianne. Marianne Conley.”

“Good. My name’s Rafael. I heard the gunshots. You’re gonna be okay, Marianne. Just stay with me, okay?”

She nodded once, clearly in pain. How could he get her to stay with him, to stay conscious? Sonny hadn’t given him any tips on this.

“Tell me about yourself, Marianne,” he coaxed. “Anything, just talk to me. Just stay with me.”

“It hurts.”

“I know. I know.” The blood was pooling around his fingers now, sticky and warm. Of his boyfriend, there was no sign. There were no more gunshots, though, so Rafael took that as a positive sign. He could hear a siren getting louder. “They’re almost here. C’mon, Marianne, just talk to me.”

“Got dragged into here.”

“Okay. It’s okay.” 

“Raped.”

Rafael glanced down. He hadn’t noticed yet that her underwear was around her ankles, and his stomach flipped. He had never… he had only seen crime-scene photos before and heard victim’s stories, he had never been at a crime scene itself. He didn’t envy the cops their jobs at all. 

“I’m sorry,” he said in a low, sincere voice. “I’m so sorry. Stay with me, please.”

She was silent.

“Did you know the man, Marianne?”

No response. He pressed harder, trying to keep the pressure up. His fingers were going numb, his hands were hurting, but he kept the pressure tight. Where were the cops, the EMTs? Shouldn’t they be here by now? 

“Marianne? Stay with me.” He wanted to feel for a pulse, but he remembered Sonny’s order not to let the pressure up. He wondered if he had missed a wound, if there had been another wound he was supposed to have kept pressure on.

A stretcher clattered its way down the alley, EMTs pushing it. Officers, several of them, came rushing along. One of the EMTs gently took Rafael’s hands away, replacing them with their own, while the other EMT felt for a pulse.

An officer guided Rafael to his feet. “I’m Officer Collins, can you tell me what happened here?”

Rafael went over the events quickly: “Yes, I was walking down the street with… with Sonny. Sorry, Detective Carisi. We heard gunshots, he went to investigate this alley, where we had heard them come from while I called 911. He called me to tell me he was in pursuit of the shooter and that there was an injured person in the alley. He gave me instructions on how to help and asked me to stay with her until you showed up. As far as I know, he is still in pursuit; I haven’t heard from him.”

“Did she tell you anything?” Officer Collins asked while the EMTs lifted Marianne onto the stretcher.

“She told me her name was Marianne Conley, that she had been pulled into the alleyway and raped. Nothing more. Is she dead?” Rafael asked as he watched one of the EMTs do CPR.

“I can’t answer that,” the officer responded.

Rafael nodded. “Any chance you could try to track down Detective Carisi? He shouldn’t be chasing the shooter on his own.”

“We’ll have officers right on that, sir.”

Rafael’s phone rang right then. “Excuse me, officer, I think I need to get this.” Into the phone: “Barba.”

_“Raf, I finally got him, but I’m like half a mile away. Police show up yet?”_

“Just now. Give me your location, I’ll send them to you.”

_“Yeah. Uh. Not to worry you, or anything, but uh, also have them send an ambulance. He clipped me.”_

Rafael’s face went tight with worry. “How bad?”

_“Bicep. I’m bleeding, but I’ll be fine. Meet me at the hospital?”_

“Of course, you idiot.”

Rafael gave the officers the update in clipped tones, then demanded a ride to the hospital.

So much for their ninth date.

*** 

For their tenth date, Rafael had planned something low-key. Sonny was still recovering from his shooting. It hadn’t been bad, but Sonny’s arm was still wrapped in bandages and he was still on restricted duty as he healed. Sonny had been impatient to be back on full duty and be back out there, but he accepted it as necessary.

(Marianne Conley had been pronounced dead in the ambulance. Rafael had been reassured by numerous people – the doctor, the EMTs, Sonny – that he had done all he could to save her life, that there was nothing more he could have done. He hadn’t missed anything; she had lost a lot of blood by the time he had gotten there, and that, combined with the trauma of the rape – which had been brutal – had killed her. Rafael had nightmares that week about blood on his hands, Marianne dying as he pressed harder on her wound, gunshots echoing. Her face would morph into Sonny’s, and he would clutch desperately at his boyfriend in the night, needing reassurance Sonny was fine.

It was another case Rafael wasn’t allowed to prosecute, as he was a witness in this one as well. Rafael knew that being the second on the scene, and the only one to hear Marianne’s last words, meant that he would need to testify, but he was annoyed that so many of these cases ended up being tried by other ADAs. It wasn’t like SVU was short on cases for him to try, and honestly, his workload was still heavy, but he hated having cases taken away from him.

At least SVU had been spared having to look for the killer, as Sonny’s chase had him in custody right away. With the DNA evidence, the prints on the gun Sonny had taken off the killer, and the ballistics report, the case was airtight. Despite the rape/murder charge carrying a long sentence, Rafael had pushed hard with the prosecuting ADA for an attempted murder of a police officer charge to be added, which had been. This time, the judge had allowed it – Sonny had his badge on his hip this time, and had clearly identified himself as a police officer several times during the chase. It gave Rafael a small measure of comfort to know that _both_ victims would get justice.

The killer’s DNA matched several open cases, allowing them to close out multiple cold cases. Sonny ended up getting a commendation.)

They were about to head to Central Park again. Rafael had decided a casual stroll through the park again would be nice. Maybe Sonny had some more stories to tell. 

Sonny was scooping his badge up and was about to slip it in his pocket when Rafael grabbed his hand. “No, wear it,” Rafael said decisively.

“What?” Sonny asked. “You’re the one who told me not to, so that I’m not a cop.”

“It’s not like it’s made any difference,” Rafael said dryly. “Anyway, this way, if someone decides to go after you, at least the DA can bring charges against them for attacking a police officer. Besides, I know you feel more comfortable with it on your hip,” he conceded.

Sonny gave him a smile at that. “I do,” he admitted. “It feels weird to have my badge in my pocket.” He slid it on his hip. “You sure you don’t mind, Raf?”

Rafael shook his head. “It looks… right.”

They were walking through the park, Sonny pointing out sights again, telling more stories. Still no dangerous ones, just silly stories of things he had seen people do. No crime tales tonight, just snapshots of people’s lives.

Rafael would’ve been a fool not to notice Sonny carried himself differently with his badge on his hip, but he didn’t say anything. The badge _completed_ Sonny, in some way, and if Rafael was being honest with himself, he liked seeing it too. Liked the way it complemented any of Sonny’s outfits, that shiny reminder that Sonny was on the side of law and order, that Sonny took his job seriously enough to wear this even off-duty. 

“That’s where I had my first kiss,” Sonny said, pointing. 

“Not Staten Island, somewhere, some fumbled makeout session?” Rafael asked.

“Nope, right here, on a school field trip. Angela… something. Why can’t I remember her last name? It’ll come back to me. I was like… 11. And we were cutting through Central Park, and she tugged on my hand to pull me away from the group, and I was like, totally shocked, and she planted one on me and just skipped off, and I got in trouble for lagging so far behind the group, ‘cause I was so stunned I just stood there looking like an idiot.”

“So if we stopped and kissed right now, would you look like that again, Detective?” Rafael asked with a mischievous smile.

“If the great ADA Rafael Barba stopped and kissed me in public? I might just die of shock.”

Rafael turned and kissed his boyfriend slowly, cupping his face. Sonny leaned into the kiss, moaning softly, his eyes fluttering closed. Rafael finally pulled back. “You’re still alive.”

“Mm. We might have to repeat the experiment, then,” Sonny said cheekily. He leaned in to kiss Rafael again, wrapping his arms around Rafael.

Two people, a man and a woman, jogged up to them, panting. “Please, you have to help us,” the woman cried. 

Sonny immediately let go of Rafael, and Rafael rested his head on Sonny’s shoulder, cursing into the fabric of Sonny’s jacket. They really were cursed, he decided.

“Yes, what’s up?” Sonny asked.

“You’re the police, right?” the man asked.

“That’s right. Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr,” Sonny said, holding his hand out for them to shake. “How can I help?”

“It’s our son. We were just on the playground there with him,” the woman said, pointing over to the nearby playground, “and we turned our back for a second – just a _second_ – and he’s _gone_!”

“Okay. Let’s have a seat and go through this,” Sonny said. “I’ll call the local precinct and have them come down – Raf?”

“On it,” Rafael grumbled. 

“And you can tell me what happened.”

“Oh, we should’ve called right away,” the woman wailed, “but we remembered seeing you and thought…”

“It’s okay, ma’am,” Sonny said with an easy smile. “Let’s start with your names.”

“I’m Julia Parker and this is my husband, Steven. Our boy is Bobby. He’s almost five. He was on the slide, and he was coming down, and Steven was on the phone, but I got a call, so I just glanced down for a second to see who it was, and when I looked up again, Bobby was gone. And we looked all over the playground, and he’s _not_ there!”

“Okay. Did you notice anyone following you at the park today? Anyone following you in the past couple of weeks?”

“No, nobody,” Steven said, holding his wife close, who was starting to cry. “At least, I haven’t seen anyone. Did someone take him?”

“It’s too early to say.”

“Local precinct says cops are on the way, I’m calling Liv now,” Rafael said, coming back over to Sonny. Sonny nodded. 

“Do you have a recent photo of Bobby? Once the police get here, we can start canvassing, see if anyone’s seen him.”

“We just took photos of him today while he was playing,” Julia said, swiping through her phone. “In the outfit he was wearing when… when…”

“Shh, it’s okay, Julia,” Steven soothed. “Just send the detective the picture.”

“Liv says she’s already in the park and will be here in ten minutes,” Rafael said in a low voice to Sonny, “and she’s calling the rest of the squad. She said you can stay off the case if you’re not ready yet.”

“I’m fine, I can look for a missing child with an injured arm, Raf.”

Rafael pressed his lips together but said nothing. Liv and a veritable army of cops arrived at roughly the same time, and Liv quickly took over the search for the missing boy.

So much for their tenth date.

*** 

Their eleventh date, Rafael had decided to leave the damn city. Clearly, New York was a hotbed of crime, and the only way to avoid Sonny getting caught up in work was to just leave the city entirely. Rafael was going to treat them to a weekend(-ish) at a bread-and-breakfast a couple hours away, determined to finally have a proper date. And if that date lasted most of the way into Monday, he was fine with that.

(By Monday, Sonny’s arm had healed completely and he had been taken off restricted duty. The missing boy had been found on Wednesday. He had been abducted by a pedophile, and Rafael had been allowed to try this case. As he read the details, he almost wished he _wasn’t_ allowed to try this case. Sonny had been the one to find the boy, huddled in a dark basement, crying, and Sonny had been quiet for the rest of the day, with a dark, hooded look on his face. 

Rafael hadn’t known what to say. Sonny had disappeared for several hours that night, and Rafael had a pang of worry until Sonny had come home, still clutching his rosary, and Rafael had realized Sonny had gone to Mass and probably confession. He had wished, absurdly, that Sonny had asked him to go with, but he realized Sonny probably knew he didn’t practice anymore and didn’t want to pressure him. He didn’t know how to broach the subject with his boyfriend, though, so he let it be, for now.

Sonny was brighter the next day, and Rafael was glad that he was able to bounce back like this. He hoped Sonny never lost that ability.)

They were driving out of the city, down some dark roads. Rafael had wondered why they were going this way, but Sonny grinned and said, “I know a way around the tolls, Raf.”

“I never thought _you_ would avoid paying tolls. You’re too civic-minded.”

“I may be civic-minded, but those tolls are highway robbery.”

Rafael sighed and let Sonny navigate his way through the various streets. “Sonny, this is a prostitute stroll, are you really taking us out of the city?”

“Uh-huh, shortcut.”

“I have never known a shortcut that brings us through a prostitute stroll.”

“Raf, when you Uber, do you even look up from your phone?”

Rafael had to admit that no, he didn’t. 

“Okay, so let me – ” Sonny stopped mid-sentence and stared. 

“It’s one thing to be on a known prostitute stroll, _Detective_ , and another to be openly leering,” Rafael snapped with absolutely no patience.

“I’m not _leering, Counselor_ , I’m _concerned_. Look at her!” He pointed. “Don’t tell me she’s a day over 14!” Rafael looked through the windshield at the prostitute on the corner, illuminated by the street light. He didn’t have Sonny’s keen eye for ages, but even he could tell that the woman – _girl_ – on the street was young. Far too young. 

Rafael sighed. They wouldn’t be getting out of the city tonight, that was for sure. Sonny was making a U-turn now to bring them to the girl’s corner. Sonny turned quickly to look at Rafael. “Raf, I’m sorry. I know you wanted to get away, but I can’t, I just can’t ignore this.”

“I know, _amorito_. I’m not asking you to, I promise. Do your job.” He lifted Sonny’s hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “But while you can get away with picking up an underage prostitute, I can’t, so don’t expect me to help you in any way.”

Sonny came to a gentle stop next to the girl and made sure his suit jacket was covering his badge. He rolled down the window. “Hey,” he greeted. The girl leaned over, resting her arms on the open window.

“Hey,” she said back, looking in the car. “The two of you? I can do that. $50 each, $100 each if you wanna go to a hotel or something.”

Sonny’s face tightened, but he nodded. “Get in,” he said. The girl opened the back door and slid into the seat. Sonny put the car into park and turned around. “How old are you?” he asked.

“18,” she answered immediately.

“No, you’re not,” Sonny replied. “I have a lot of experience with age. C’mon, tell me. Maybe… maybe I like it like that.” He slid out of the driver’s seat and got in the back with her.

Rafael stared resolutely ahead, trying not to react to his boyfriend playing this skeevy guy. He knew Sonny was good at this, he’d seen him in action before, but that was before they had started dating. His fist clenched. 

“And your friend, he into that too?”

“Maybe,” Sonny said. He patted Rafael’s shoulder, and Rafael tried not to lean away from that touch. He didn’t want to be associated with this. “C’mon, I just wanna see your ID.”

The girl handed him something, and Sonny snorted. “Please, like I can’t tell a fake when I see one. I’m a bartender, I see fakes all day. You got a real one or what?” He gave her his most disarming smile, the full force of his dimples on display. “You can trust me, honey.”

Much more hesitantly, the girl handed him something else. “Amber Reeves. 14, huh?” Sonny said with a low whistle. “Wow, so young.” He handed back the ID and pulled his suit jacket up so that his badge showed. “And I’m not a bartender, I’m a cop.” He grabbed her wrist before she could leave. “Whoa, whoa, you’re not in trouble, I promise. I’m not arresting you tonight, okay. Listen to me, I am _not_ arresting you tonight or any other night. I want to get you to a safe place, and I want to hear who is making you do this and why. Can I take you some place safe, like our station? Please, Amber?”

Amber settled down again. “I’m really not in trouble?”

“I promise you’re not. You’re not under arrest, and you won’t be under arrest when you come into the station, either. The person I want to arrest is your pimp, not you.”

“He the police, too?” Amber asked with a sniffle, rubbing her eyes and nose.

“No, that’s my boyfriend,” Sonny said with a warm smile at Rafael. He touched Rafael’s shoulder gently, and this time Rafael leaned into the touch. “Buckle up, okay? I’m getting back into the driver’s seat and we’re going to go down to the station.”

Sonny clambered back into the driver’s seat to find Rafael on the phone. “Who’re you calling?”

“Liv. I’m renegotiating our custody agreement; clearly Saturday nights don’t work. I’m angling for Fridays, how does that sound?”

“Works for me.”

Sonny headed to the station.

So much for their eleventh date.

*** 

(With Amber’s help, they nailed her pimp in court. It had been an open-and-shut case, especially when they found his five other underage prostitutes.)

That Friday, they actually managed to have a real date without any interruptions. Sonny was _beaming_ by the end, and even Rafael was smiling.

As a joke, on Monday, Liv had a custody agreement up and ready for Rafael to sign. Sonny teased him about it all week.


End file.
